Climate disasters cost the world more than $120 billion in 2025 and affected the poorest communities first and worst, according to a new report, Counting the Cost 2025, from Christian Aid, with fossil-fuel companies playing a big part.
These are not “natural” disasters, the report says, but, in the words of Emeritus Professor Joanna Haigh of Imperial College London, “the predictable result of continued fossil-fuel expansion and political delay”.
It identifies the top ten disasters in terms of cost, with the wildfires in Los Angeles topping the list, with an economic cost of $60 billion and more than 430 deaths.
4 of the 10 were in the Americas, 4 in Asia and one each in Australia and Africa.
“These climate disasters are a warning of what lies ahead if we do not accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels,” warns Christian Aid’s chief executive, Patrick Watt. “They also underline the urgent need for adaptation, particularly in the global South, where resources are stretched and people are especially vulnerable to climate shocks.”
The good news, he writes in the foreword, is the gathering pace of the transition to clean energy: “Despite a political backlash in some settings, public support for climate action remains strong, and the consequences of inaction are becoming ever clearer — in lost lives, destroyed homes and livelihoods, and growing economic losses.”
Read the full article in the Church Times here.